A probationary policeman has been jailed for a year, and placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, after pleading guilty to sex with a girl under the age of 16. He also faces dismissal from the police force.

Crown Prosecutor Dorian Lovell-Pank when detailing the events of the first time Ian Gilbert allegedly raped his daughter, Jessie Gilbert, said ‘she did not consent. She was scared. She pretended it wasn’t happening.’ Ian Gilbert is alleged to have raped and sexually abused Jessie Gilbert for five years. Gilbert allegedly first raped Jessie when she was only 8 years old and it is also alleged Gilbert systematically raped and sexually abused Jessie until she was 13 years old.

I have been running a short series on the hundreds of women sexually tortured, mutilated and murdered in Guatemala. I have decided to post the story of Manuela Sac Haz on to ‘A speak out of male violence’ instead of my personal blog.

*Warning triggering content*

In Guatemala an average of 10 women are being brutally murdered every single week. Many are raped, mutilated and tortured before they die – sometimes for prolonged periods. Yet the authorities are failing to investigate these murders. As a result, the murders continue to kill with impunity.